Info. Insight. Inspiration.
It Starts Here!
Vol. 2, Issue 1
April 3rd, 2011

-->(Hope you all enjoyed that april fool's prank, btw ;)

Issues

Why is this Issue of the ISH the first issue of Volume 2? Because March 28th marckhed the1-year anniversary of ISH!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHWEEK, ISH!!!!
Hope you have a fantastic-ISH birthweek!! ;)

-->Check out how it all started: Here's the first ever ISH edition!

Solutions

The SolarBall uses the sun to filter water (From Mark O)

Novel solar panel design which floats on water which cools and protects the solar cell (from Mark O)

Enviro-Pig - a pig that digests phosphates naturally found in feed, and so 1) doesn't poop out environment-damaging phosphates, and 2) require less phosphate-supplements in feed! (From Yan Y)

Canadian Healthcare:

Hospitals expect to have funding cuts after a worse than expected flu season. this is also after the contract of $425.9M with GlaxoSmithKline to ensure that Canadians have enough vaccines for the next ten years. It seems like this is not a supply-demand issue (i.e. not a shortage of vaccine) but a public health concern (people seem not aware of the importance of vaccination; and when they do not get vaccinated, it may result in public health problems such as overloaded hospital emergency rooms) (From Emma T)

"A sign of discontent with Canada's health system is the growing number of complaints made from patients to Alberta MDs about unsatisfactory healthcare experiences. What is also alarming is that the College, when it does pay attention to the complaints, does not appear to address the root causes of the problem (the possible flaws in the medical system itself). Rather, a short-sighted "band-aid" approach has been used to temporarily put out the fire, which may lead to more complaints. With the Health Accord expiring in 2014 and federal elections around the corner, Alberta's issue may be signal Canadians to push for a re-structuring of the medical system that reflects patient-centered care that acknowledges and uses the valuable feedback from patients to improve care." (From Mike Y)

Debates:

Is the cause of a ADHD a bad fast-food diet? (From Mark O)

10 ideas that are changing the world - from TIME magazine (From Cody O)

(Sad) Lols of the week...

Convenience? (from Nissi W)

The reason why companies support "green week" or "green day" or "earth hour"... (seriously though, this is something to watch out for - that being sustainable in one thing doesn't turn into a feel-good excuse for society/companies/etc to be unsustainable in everything else) (From Yan Y)

ABOUT "IT STARTS HERE":

ISH is a member-based information resource about all things "sustainability", started in March of 2010. Our members consist of high school and university students, including IB candidates/alumni, Queen's Major Admission Award Scholars, Loran Scholars, and Canada's Top 20 Under 20 alumni.
Members (those receiving the ISH - yes you are a member!) send in whatever materials they find (links to interesting facts, news about their organizations, etc) during the course of the week, and an editor compiles the material and sends out the ISH newsletter every sunday.
As the ISH relies on member inputs, your contribution is greatly needed and always appreciated!
You're a member if you care - about the world, about sustainability issues, and about what you can do to make things better. We hope you find the information in this newsletter interesting, informative, and inspiring. Remember: change starts here. Change starts with you.

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